The law and the heat of the sun

By Atty. Eduardo T. Reyes III

Outside at around 9:30 AM, the heat wave conjures pockets of mirages all over the city.

The heat index hovers at around 35 degrees and as the sun further rises, it could be scalping.

Some forty years ago, children could balk in the sun and play all day as if the sun is standing still.

Today, no one would wish for the sun to stand still. Rather it must set soon.

Because of the heat, this columnist was able to sit down indoor and type these words.

It has been a while since this column could pour in some words. Just like life, there are empty shadows that we have to deal with.

The legal profession where this columnist belongs, has been portrayed as glamorous and exciting.  Media-savvy lawyers just know how to hog the limelight giving the impression that lawyering is all about being famous and powerful. Despite stern warnings from courts about the prohibitions in the Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability (CPRA), some lawyers would still post their “won cases” on social media as if people need to know how good they are in their job.

In truth, the legal profession is one of the loneliest places on earth which sometimes even the rays of the sun could not reach. You must do your work in the unassuming corner of your office or home where you need to pore over thousands of documents and brush up on law and jurisprudence.

If you become fortunate to get invited as a law professor or lecturer for the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE), where law students and “lawyer students” are respectively your audience, then the burden is heavier. These are “classrooms” where you need to be sharp and resourceful not for hubris but to share what you know. And your consolation is that when you share knowledge, you are not diminished but enhanced.

Having devoted a quarter of a century to teaching and litigating cases, this columnist has wondered: what is it really that is for you when you have given your all?

Clients may pat you on the back when you’ve done a good job for them and then that’s it. They won’t remember you until their next legal woes.

Society has not been too kind to lawyers. Since the olden times, lawyers were always taken with suspicion.

Yet as Justice Holmes once quipped: “the business of a law school is to teach the law in a grand manner.”

“Grand” is synonymous with “magnificent” and “imposing.” Indeed, the law is both magnificent and imposing. But it must be stressed that it is the law that is grand- not the lawyer.

While writing this piece, I look out the window and I think I can see the young, eager law student who walked into law school some 29 years ago. He was full of hope. During the first few days into law school, he learned that under Article 19 of the Civil Code, “Every person must, in the exercise of his (her) rights and in the performance of his (her) duties, act with justice, give everyone his (her) due, and observe honesty and good faith.”

If only everyone can embrace this as a code of conduct, then this world would be a better place to live in.

In the coming months, this columnist will be lecturing on specific topics in law at the University of the Philippines Law Center, Institute for the Administration of Justice (UPLC-IAJ), Diliman, Quezon City, and in an Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) local chapter. The attendees will be lawyers who must comply with the mandatory 36 credit unit attendance as a requirement for the continued practice of law.

So why do I teach in the heat of the sun?

I continue to teach because I realize that the law could be like the sun. When taught and embraced innocently, it is grand- even magnificent and imposing. Just like the sun, you can balk in the law as if it is standing still- gentle and yet profound. But when used for one’s grand ambitions to become famous, the law could scorch- it could cause a wildfire.

In the hands of a law professor or lecturer is an angle of the law that makes it grand. In his/her hands lie some subtle distinctions between shades and mirages. Just like the sun, a law professor must underline that while we can take refuge in the shades of the law, we cannot conjure mirages out of the heat.

Indeed, there is so much in store for one who teaches the law. Like this columnist, he has found profound meaning in teaching in the sun.

                (The author is the senior partner of ET Reyes III & Associates– a law firm based in Iloilo City. He is a litigation attorney, a law professor, MCLE lecturer, bar reviewer and a book author. His website is etriiilaw.com).